Drought areas shrink in key U.S. farm states -report

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Harsh drought conditions persisted in U.S. farm states over the last week but some improvement was noted thanks to recent rain and snow, climate experts said on Thursday. The weekly Drought Monitor report issued by a consortium of state and federal climatologists showed the following as of Feb. 12:

* The key farming states in the High Plains region remain severely stricken by drought, though improvement was noted over the last week with severe or worse levels of drought at 82.51 percent of the region, down from 87.25 percent a week earlier.

* In Kansas, the level of exceptional drought - considered the worst level - was unchanged at 36.16 percent of the state, while the second-worst level of drought, dubbed extreme, shrunk to 75.36 percent of the state from 79.54 percent.

* There was no change over the last week in Nebraska, where roughly 77.47 percent of the land area is suffering from exceptional drought, and 96.28 percent of the state is still suffering from extreme drought.

* Colorado saw exceptional drought hold steady at 24.92 percent of the state, but extreme drought shrunk to 50.99 percent, down from 54.29 percent.

* Oklahoma also saw exceptional drought levels unchanged - at 39.58 percent of the state - but extreme drought shrunk to 87 percent from 89.64 percent.

(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Editing by Leslie Adler)